Smith: So NHL, you think all is forgotten?

The NHL jerseys and ballcaps that used to be part of the seasonal sports wardrobe rotation were packed away in the closet when you left four months ago.

Your 2012-13 pocket schedule never made it into our wallets or onto our calendars. Your photos, videos, old ticket stubs, programs and memorabilia went into a keepsake box like old love letters.

Hockey, you left us.

We broke up.

Now, after your NHL owners and players' union reached a tentative deal on a new 10-year collective bargaining agreement early Sunday morning, you want to come back and make up.

You knock on our door, standing there in your sweater with your skates and sticks. You smile with your crooked nose and missing teeth, promising to save the season and give us about 50 games, pretending nothing happened.

Of course, we remember you before you abandoned us to stage a 113-day labor lockout over how to share and protect your millions.

We were hurt, angry and sad. We even missed you for awhile.

But we had to move on and figure out something else to do with our time and money to fulfill our entertainment needs, which hasn't been tough in a Southern California sports meat market packed with a lot of eligible and eager suitors.

While you were gone, the Lakers have added superstars Dwight Howard and Steve Nash, and the Clippers won 17 games in a row.

The Angels signed five-time All-Star slugger Josh Hamilton and look like they might get back to the World Series.

The Dodgers are buying everything not tied down, flexing their muscles and flashing their money, courting us.

College football has had its bowl season and is about to crown its national champion. The NFL has begun its playoffs.

We couldn't wait for you, hockey, because we didn't know whether you'd return. Moreover, you were gone so long that we started to forget about you.

You understand, right?

You ditched us before and came crawling back in July 2005 after being away for an entire season for a 301-day lockout, a record work stoppage for a North American pro sports league.

We let you come back and move back in after the last painful time. But again?

How can we trust you? How can we forgive you?

Mending this relationship will take a lot more than discount-ticket date nights, reduced concession-stand prices and your usual arena giveaway gifts of T-shirts, rally towels, pucks and bobbleheads.

You'll have to become attractive to us again by showcasing your athletes' skills, which might be a little rusty because of the extended layoff, and putting a competitive game on the ice.

You'll have to be on your best behavior, presenting us with players respectable enough to cheer for and teams genuinely interested in regaining our loyalty.

You'll have to welcome us warmly and enthusiastically back into Honda Center and Staples Center after the deep freeze.

Your defending champion Kings might be able to thaw fans' hearts more easily since the recent romance with the Stanley Cup prevented these months without hockey from being so bleak.

But your Ducks, who are returning after a losing season, will have to be extra charming.You'll have to do a lot of wooing to win us back.